JP2005346153A - Commodity purchase system - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a system for shopping with a simple operation by displaying commodity information on a screen after a commodity is specified by coordinate information of an existing monitoring camera. <P>SOLUTION: A commodity purchase system includes monitoring cameras for monitoring inside a shop and photographing commodities in the shop, a control terminal for controlling the above monitoring cameras through a control box, a management server having a database retaining a variety of information sets in regard to the commodities and customers, and performing communication with the above control box via the Internet, and a customer terminal for exchanging images and data with the above control box or the management server through the Internet. Through the operation of the above monitoring camera from the customer terminal, a commodity can be selected from the photographed commodity images, and the commodity can be purchased. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2006,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a product purchase system that allows a surveillance camera installed in a store or the like to be operated from a remote browser such as a personal computer via the Internet and to make a purchase while checking a photographed product on a screen. It is.

  In recent years, the development of information communication and the Internet has been remarkable, and so-called online shopping through the Internet is also actively performed. In general, the online shopping method currently used is that a customer connects his / her own personal computer etc. to the Internet network as a terminal and accesses a web page opened by the seller of the product by a browser (browsing software). . A customer looks at a product displayed on a web page or searches for a product by a product name or a product number code. If a desired product is found, the customer puts it in a “shopping basket” on the screen. After that, when the purchased product is determined by final settlement, a payment method is selected and payment is made. The exhibitor side delivers the product to the customer side by a predetermined delivery method.

  In conventional online shopping, merchandise is classified into certain categories on the seller side and registered on the web page, but the web page is regularly updated, but real-time information is displayed. For example, the display of the number of stocks is not accurate, and photographs and text information are displayed, but there are cases where the characteristics of the product cannot be fully known due to restrictions on the screen.

  Therefore, for example, as shown in Patent Document 1, a system has been proposed in which a plurality of cameras are installed at a sales floor and a user can shop by looking at a raw video of a product.

  On the other hand, apart from such a product purchase system, an automatic tracking camera that can be tracked and a control terminal are placed on the Internet, the camera is controlled by a remote PC, and the camera video is monitored in real time. There is also a camera system. According to this system, for example, by registering the characteristics of the suspicious person in advance, it becomes possible to find the suspicious person by automatic tracking and automatically notify the administrator.

JP 2003-168022 A

  The online shopping system described in the above-mentioned Patent Document 1 is a system that attempts to actually purchase products with different product characteristics such as freshness and quantity, such as fresh food, by actually checking the camera image, In addition, the order code number is displayed on each product, and the customer confirms the order code number on the image and enters this number separately to confirm the order. is there. Therefore, unlike the conventional method of clicking the screen with a mouse or the like and putting it in the “shopping basket”, it requires a customer to perform an extra operation, which is troublesome.

  The present invention has been made in view of such circumstances, and applies an existing surveillance camera as a camera to each store, identifies the product from the coordinate information of the surveillance camera, displays the product name, etc. on the screen, and performs simple operations. The purpose is to provide a system for shopping on the market.

  In the present invention, in order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the product purchase system is installed in various places in the store, monitors the inside of the store and photographs the product in the store, and the monitoring camera via the control box A control terminal for controlling the device, a management server having a database for holding various information about products and customers, and communicating with the control box via the Internet network, and the control box and management server and images via the Internet network And a customer terminal that transmits and receives data, and operates the monitoring camera from the customer terminal so that a product can be selected and purchased from a photographed product image.

  The product purchase system according to the above configuration allows the customer to select a product by operating while viewing the actual screen of the surveillance camera on the customer terminal, and can purchase the product based on the product information displayed on the screen. Is.

  The surveillance camera is a camera that is controlled by converting the information of up / down / left / right and enlargement / reduction zoom into camera position information and controlling the surveillance camera with the control terminal, and is taken from the surveillance camera position information. Adopted a means that product information can be determined.

  Further, the control box employs means for controlling the position of the monitoring camera according to a command from the control terminal, transmitting product information to the management server, and transmitting order information to the store side.

  The control terminal employs means for controlling the monitoring camera via the control box, displaying an image of the monitoring camera, and determining product information from position information of the monitoring camera.

  The management server communicates with the control box to build product information in a database, manages data related to customers in the database, transmits product information by operating the customer terminal, and processes order information. In addition, we adopted a means to further manage inventory and give instructions for shipping.

  In addition, the customer terminal displays the image and product information of the monitoring camera, operates the monitoring camera via the control box on the screen, selects and determines the purchased product, and transmits the order information to the management server. Adopted the means to be.

  In the product purchase system having the above configuration, first, a monitoring camera is controlled by a control terminal, product information is determined from position information of a camera for each product to be photographed, and registered in a management server as a database. When the customer operates the monitoring camera via the customer terminal and selects a product, the product information is displayed together with the actual image, and the purchase of the product can be determined according to the information. When the product purchase is determined, the order information is sent to the management server. The management server processes the order information and also ships the product.

  The product purchase system according to the present invention uses an existing surveillance camera in a store, determines product information from the camera position information, constructs a database, operates the surveillance camera from a customer terminal, selects a product, Since the purchase can be decided, the product actually displayed in the store can be confirmed with an image. For example, if the product characteristics are known, such as a bookstore, the store inventory is confirmed by a surveillance camera. This makes it possible to purchase products via the Internet network or the like.

  In addition, since the surveillance camera can also be used for product search, a conventional surveillance camera system can be used as it is without installing a new camera, and a product purchase system can be constructed at an extremely low cost.

  Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of a product purchase system according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. FIG. 1 shows an outline of the overall configuration of a product purchase system. 1, 1, 1,... Are surveillance cameras that can be swung and installed at various locations in the store (S). Each surveillance camera 1 is connected to a control box 2, and the control box 3 such as a personal computer or the like is automatically or manually controlled via this control box 2 to swing the head and zoom and leak the entire interior of the store. It can be monitored without any problems. The control box 2 is connected to a LAN line 4, and the LAN line 4 is further connected to the Internet network 5. In addition, the surveillance camera system currently installed in the store can be applied to the surveillance system using the surveillance camera. A plurality of stores (S) can be connected on the LAN line 4, and the plurality of LAN lines 4 are connected to the Internet network 5.

  In general, the control of the surveillance camera 1 is based on the home position, and the information on the up / down / left / right and enlargement / reduction zoom is all digitized as camera viewpoint position information, and automatic tracking operation control and manual tracking operation control are determined by this numerical control. ing. Accordingly, as described below, the monitoring camera 1 is controlled by the control terminal 3, and the product information of the product displayed on the screen can be determined from the position information of the monitoring camera 1 by teaching.

  The control box 2 has a function of controlling each monitoring camera 1 according to a command from the control terminal 3, and also has a function of transmitting teaching information to the management server described below and transmitting order information to the store side. Have. Further, the control terminal 3 is composed of a personal computer or the like, and controls each monitoring camera 1 via the control box 2, displays an image of the monitoring camera 1, and determines product information by teaching from the position information of the monitoring camera 1. It has the function to do.

  Subsequently, 6 is a management server connected to the Internet network 5, which is constructed with a personal computer or the like, communicates with the control box 2 of the surveillance camera 1, and has a database 7 for holding product information and customer information. Yes. That is, the product information is constructed on the database 7 based on the information from the control box 2 and can be referred to when selecting the product. In addition to managing information related to customers, for example, login IDs and passwords necessary for customer authentication, unique information such as customer addresses, names, and payment methods are managed in a database. Further, in response to access from the customer side, various processing of customer order information is performed, and inventory confirmation and shipping instructions are also performed. The management server 6 and the database 7 may be provided on the LAN line for each store. Reference numerals 8, 8... Are customer terminals operated by the user and connected to the Internet network 5. The customer terminal can be connected to the Internet, such as a mobile phone, PDA (personal information portable terminal), various personal computers, etc., and can exchange data with the control box 2 and management server 6 of the monitoring camera 1 through the screen. I just need it.

  Next, the product information will be described before the operation procedure of the product purchase system configured as described above is described. In advance, the store side needs to register product information in the database 7 by teaching. In the present invention, product information is registered based on the position information of the monitoring camera 1. That is, the head monitoring camera 1 is manually controlled by the control terminal 3, and the shape of the product (group) shown on the camera is individually traced while moving the monitoring camera 1 within the range of view angle operation to obtain line information. The line information and the position information (up / down / left / right position and zoom magnification) of the swing monitoring camera are linked together to be determined as one object information. Product-specific individual information such as product name and price is added to this information from the keyboard or the like of the control terminal 3 and determined as product information. The product information is transmitted to the management server through the control box 2, and the management server 6 registers this in the database 7. Accordingly, when the user operates the surveillance camera 1 and aims at a product while viewing the image of the surveillance camera 1, the product is uniquely specified by the position information of the surveillance camera 1 at that time, and the user It will be possible to decide whether or not to purchase the product. Of course, this operation is performed for all the monitoring cameras 1 in the store. Therefore, all the products in the shootable range of each monitoring camera 1 can be registered. Such a method is particularly suitable for product purchases in which product characteristics are known and the product can be determined by checking the presence or absence at the store. For example, this is an effective method for purchasing books at a bookstore. Since the existing surveillance camera 1 is used in combination, it can be used for both store monitoring and product sales, which is a useful method of use.

  Next, an outline of the overall operation procedure of the product purchase system according to the present invention will be described. Basically, it follows the conventional standard online shopping system. That is, the store side opens a web store on the Internet. In this web store, products classified by category are posted together with photos and detailed information as before, but in addition to this, as a unique method, products that are actually confirmed through the camera, selected, and purchased by customers A dedicated web page is provided for this purpose. Of course, you may comprise a web store only by a dedicated web page. The user operates the customer terminal 8 to shop on the web page. On the screen of the customer terminal 8, for example, as shown in FIG. 2, an actual image 11 of the monitoring camera 1 is displayed, and up / down / left / right direction buttons 12 for controlling the monitoring camera 1, zoom buttons 13, and detailed product information 14, a purchase decision button (shopping basket) 15 and the like are displayed. In addition, store information, surveillance camera numbers, and the like are displayed as necessary. These are switched and displayed for each surveillance camera.

  For security purposes, it is desirable for the customer to issue a login ID and password to the web store, and to authenticate the customer at the time of login. For this reason, membership registration is performed in advance using an application form and customer information is registered in the database 7 of the management server. As customer information, in addition to personal information such as address, name, date of birth, etc., a product delivery method, a payment method, etc. are registered. For example, a store leaving method or a delivery method can be selected as a product delivery method. Further, as a payment method, an over-the-counter payment method, a cash on delivery method, a credit card method, or the like can be selected.

  To purchase a product, the user side operates the customer terminal, logs in with a browser using the login ID and password, and then selects a product on a normal page or the dedicated web page. That is, the user side accesses an arbitrary page, and for example, on a dedicated web page, while operating the direction button 12 and the zoom button 13 with a mouse or the like while viewing the actual image 11 displayed on the customer terminal, the surveillance camera on the store side Remotely operate 1 to search for the desired product. The management server 6 constantly searches the database 7, and since the position information of the monitoring camera 1 is recorded as product information in this database 7, when the customer finds the desired product through the screen and focuses on the product, From the position information of the monitoring camera 1 at that time, for example, detailed information 14 of the product is displayed on the side of the screen, and it can be confirmed whether the product is the target product. If it is the target product, the user performs an operation of putting the product into the “shopping basket” by the purchase decision button 15 by operating the mouse or the like. The user repeats this operation to continue shopping, and finally performs a checkout operation of the “shopping basket” to determine the shopping content. As a result, the order information is confirmed and transmitted to the management server. After that, the settlement method is determined by a settlement method registered in advance or by a subsequent operation, and the settlement ends. Thereafter, on the store side, the order information is output from the management server 6 according to the input order information, and the merchandise is stored or shipped in the store accordingly.

  As described above, according to the product purchase system according to the present invention, the user can operate the surveillance camera at the customer terminal and purchase the product while actually checking the product at the store on the screen. You can check the characteristics in real time, save the trouble of checking the inventory, and you can purchase the product as if you were actually shopping at the store. On the other hand, the store side can construct a system by applying an existing surveillance camera system, so that a product purchase system can be introduced at a relatively low cost while monitoring the store. In addition, since the products in the store are registered in the database, it is possible to reduce the trouble of managing various products such as inventory management.

1 is an overall schematic configuration diagram of a product purchase system according to the present invention. An example of the screen displayed on a customer terminal is shown.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Surveillance camera 2 Control box 3 Control terminal 4 LAN line 5 Internet network 6 Management server 7 Database 8 Customer terminal

Claims (6)

  It is installed at various locations in the store, and has a monitoring camera that monitors the store and shoots the product in the store, a control terminal that controls the monitoring camera via a control box, and various information about products and customers A management server that communicates with the control box via the Internet network and a customer terminal that exchanges images and data with the control box and management server via the Internet network. A product purchasing system, wherein a product can be selected and purchased based on a photographed product image by operating a camera.   The surveillance camera controls the information of the up / down / left / right and enlargement / reduction zoom as digital camera position information, and controls the surveillance camera with the control terminal, and the product information of the product photographed from the surveillance camera position information. The product purchasing system according to claim 1, wherein the product can be determined.   3. The control box controls the position of the monitoring camera according to a command from the control terminal, transmits product information to the management server, and transmits order information to the store side. Product purchase system.   The control terminal controls the monitoring camera via the control box, displays an image of the monitoring camera, and determines product information from position information of the monitoring camera. The product purchase system according to claim 1.   The management server communicates with the control box to build product information in a database, manages data related to customers in the database, transmits product information by operating the customer terminal, and processes order information. The product purchasing system according to any one of claims 1 to 4, which performs inventory management and a shipping instruction.   The customer terminal displays the image and product information of the monitoring camera, operates the monitoring camera via the control box on the screen, selects and determines the purchased product, and transmits order information to the management server. The product purchase system according to any one of claims 1 to 5.

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